


Don't Be Afraid Of These Thunderclouds

by ClaraBrielle



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Future Fic, post she said he said, pretty gross conversation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 21:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17968271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraBrielle/pseuds/ClaraBrielle
Summary: Jake runs into the Captain of the 6-4 at a superstore.





	Don't Be Afraid Of These Thunderclouds

There are so many different kinds of tampons he thinks as he stands in front of what seem like thousand of different kinds of boxes. He’s been here at least ten times or more for this exact thing, yet he can never seem to remember what the box looks like or which brand and size she buys. 

Sighing he pulls out his phone and dials her number. He hates that he has to call her every time. At some point he should just learn what she uses. It’s not rocket science and it’s something that a good husband should know. At least he thinks. His dad probably didn’t know which means that Jake absolutely should know. “Hey.” Amy says after the second or third ring. “You forget which kind?”

“Yes.” Jake says his voice filled with defeat. “I’m sorry. I know that you’ve told me every time.”

“It’s fine Jake.” Amy says laughing slightly and he immediately feels better. “I just want the playtex sport in a super. It’s like a pink box with a green highlight across the front.”

Jake scanned the boxes until he eyed the one that she was talking about. “Got it.” He said feeling far more proud of himself than he should've for simply picking out a box. “Do you want me to send you a picture of it to make sure that it’s the right thing.” There silence on the other end of the line and he sways back and forth awkwardly. “You still there?”

“Yep.” Amy says. “I’m pretty sure that you’re more than capable of reading the label on the box.” She laughed and he sighed. He was ninety percent sure that this was what she wanted he just wanted to make super extra percent sure before he showed up at home with the wrong box. “Can you hurry home? I miss you.” He smiles to himself as he’s only been gone for fifteen minutes. Then again he knows that when she’s gone for five minutes he misses her far more than what is probably healthy.

“Yeah.” He replies. “I’m on my way now. Love you.”

“Love you too.” He hears Amy say before he hangs up the phone. For good measure he makes his way to the candy aisle grabbing a chocolate bar for himself and some swedish fish for Amy. He was absolutely delighted when he found out that she liked those. 

After grabbing the candy and a two liter of orange soda out of the refrigerator he starts making his way towards the register. Halfway there he remember that he needs to buy a card for his mom’s birthday so he makes a slight detour towards the card section.

He starts going through them looking at all the funny ones first. He always prefered to buy her a funny one. In fact he had never bought her a serious one until he went card shopping with Amy one time for her dad’s birthday and she picked out one of the ones with the long poems on the front. The ones that he hated receiving. Amy had told him that the sentimental ones are a better way of showing how important that person was to him. Jake had argued with her telling her that she didn’t understand his relationship with his mom. Yet that year he found himself buying one of those cards and the way her face lit up made him think that maybe Amy was on to something.

So he poured over the longer cards until he found one that he liked throwing it into the basket that was starting to weigh on his shoulder when a distant familiar voice called out his name “Jake Peralta?”

Jake turned around and suddenly he was nine years old watching his father come home stumbling drunk with Jeff standing right next to him trying to explain to his mom that while there were strippers there nothing happened. “I swear.” he would say as if his word had any value. 

“Jeff.” Jake said as a way of acknowledge his presence. Not the excited way you get when you see an old friend at the superstore that Jeff had used. “How have you been?” He used to be good at ignoring people and avoiding confrontation at all costs. But at some point in time he has become weak. 

“I’ve been good.” Jeff seid. “It’s been a while. You looked a lot different than the last time that I saw you.” 

“Yeah.” Jake said nodding. “Thirty years will do that.” Jake never liked Jeff. He represented this awful part of Jake’s life where dad would come home drunk and mom and dad would then scream at each other until dad ended up leaving. Most of the time he would be back the next day. That is until he wasn’t. He had always pictured his dad out running around to every bar with Jeff screaming about how much he hated his family. 

“Man I can’t believe it’s been that long.” Jeff said shaking his head at how fast time flies. “I haven’t even seen your dad in like fifteen years.” Jake bit his tongue from saying that Jeff probably saw more of his dad than Jake had in his entire life. “So what do you now? Did you end up being a cop like you always said you would be or did you end up having to settle for something less.” 

“Oh no.” Jake said waving his hand at the idea of him settling. He was a lot of things but he was not someone that just gave up when the going gets rough. “I made detective actually.”

“Oh wow!” Jeff seid. “Congratulations.” He said. “You know I was actually a police captain at one of the preicents here in New York before I moved to Chicago. Wouldn’t that have been crazy if you showed up in my priencent?” Jake nodded although he thought that it was crazy that Jeff was able to make captain. Maybe he wasn’t as much as a drunk as his nine year old had categorized him to be. 

Jeff glanced down at Jake’s bag and Jake could almost hear what he was going to say next. “Who’s the bitch that tied you down?” he asks and nope. That wasn’t what he was expecting. He was expecting something like ‘Who’s the lucky girl.’ Oh how naive. 

“I’m sorry what?” Jake said shaking his head almost in disbelief. “Did you just call my wife a bitch?”

“Oh no.” Jeff said clearly trying to take back his previous statement. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean anything by it. You know that I have some lady trouble.” Yeah maybe because you call them all a bitch on instinct Jake though but didn't say. “What’s her name, I’m sure that she’s a lucky _lady_ to have you.”

It disgusted him the way he put the emphasis on lady as if he was only using it to please Jake “Her name is Amy.” Jake said. “And yeah she’s pretty great but honestly I feel like I’m lucky to have her.”

“Amy.” Jeff repeats pushing his cheeks out with his tongue. “I used to know an Amy.” Lots of people know an Amy Jake thought mentally rolling his eyes but not physically because that would be rude. Then all of a sudden is clicks with him and his eyes go wide and his throat gets a really dry. No there are a lot of guys who know a lot of Amy’s. “She was the hottest girl I’ve ever seen. Would’ve loved to have a piece of that ass.”

He swallows trying to stay composed. “Jeff.” Jake says. “Were you captain at the 6-4?”

“Yeah I was.” Jeff said and Jake closed his eyes tight and pursed his lips. His heart was beating out of his chest the same way it had nearly two years ago when Amy told him the story for the first time. “I like to take credit for how great it’s doing now. It was a mess before I got in there.”

“Is…” He trails off for a second. “Is the Amy that you are uh referring to. Is she uh Amy Santiago?” he asks nearly tripping through his words. Even he was cringing but his mind was moving so fast he just couldn’t keep up with it right now.

“Yeah!” Jeff exclaims. “Oh man I was hard all the time back then. The way she was so desperate to please me and do what I say. I wanted so badly to order her to blow me but I think I would've gotten in trouble for that.”

Jake clenches the fist that’s not holding the basket at his side. His blood was boiling and he wanted nothing more than to punch Jeff square in the face. But deep down he knows that’s not what Amy would want. Or maybe that is what Amy would want. If she was here right now she’d probably punch him. There are too many security camera though and it would look really bad for him at work. He closes his eyes tight taking a deep breath trying to calm down. 

“Wait.” Jeff says. “Don’t tell me that she’s your wife.” Jake opens his eyes but doesn't say anything, the anger is probably already pretty evident on his face. “Oh you lucky bastard.” Jeff says clapping him on the shoulder. Was the anger not evident or was Jeff just a complete moron. Scratch that. Jeff was a complete moron. For sure.

“I am doing everything I can to not punch you right now.” Jake said his jaw set. “If it weren’t for the security cameras or the fact that I think violence is not the answer I definitely would.”

“Take it easy man.” Jeff seid taking a step back. “I was just trying to compliment you’re smoking hot wife.”

“Saying that my wife is so hot that you got boners everyday and that you wanted to order her to blow you is not a complinet. That’s degrading as fuck and frankly quite disgusting.”

“Dude she’s not here.”

“I don’t care that she’s not here” Jake practically yelled. “I respect her when she’s in the room and I respect her when she’s out of the room. She is so much more than just a _hot piece of ass._ ” Jake said mirroring Jeff’s words from earlier. “She’s a brilliant lieutenant at the nine nine and she worked her "hot piece of ass" through dicks like you to get there.”

“Well I’m the one that even put her on the track to getting there.”

“Anybody else with a brain would've made the call to promote her to detective and they wouldn’t have tried to kiss her for it.” Jake said. “The only positive thing you did for her was force her to get a transfer to the nine nine putting her in contact with her, now, family and allowing her the chance to get a real mentor who wasn’t going to try and take advantage of her.”

“Jake-”

“No.” Jake said sternly. “You know I knew that you had to be a pretty bad person to hang out with my dad but I think even my dad is on a higher level than you. Not once did I hear him call my mom a bitch or a whore. And I’m guessing that those are just synonyms for a woman in your mind. I hope you never have children because the world does need anymore people like you.” With that he turned and walked away chest still heaving with anger.

He quickly paid for the items at self checkout throwing them into bags that he grabbed and stormed out with to his car. He haphazardly threw them in the backseat of the suv as he climbed into the driver seat resting his head on the wheel.

It took maybe thirty seconds after that for the tears to start forming in his eyes. It wasn’t the first time that he’s cried about it and it won’t be the last. It makes him, rightfully so, angry to think about what Jeff had just said to him and what he had done to Amy all those years ago. And then there was the fact that he could still be out there doing it to other young girls. It hurt his heart to think about someone saying those things and thinking those things about Amy. 

After five minutes or so, he lifted his head from the steering wheel wiping away the excess tears before driving away from the superstore and back towards home. He tried to calm himself down. He had done the right thing not punching Jeff, no matter how good it would’ve felt.

When he got home, Amy was laying across the couch half mindedly watching some show. As soon as he came into the door though, she was off the couch and throwing herself in his arms kissing him. “Woah.” He said after they separated his hands still resting on her lower back. “What’s all that about.”

“I told you to get home quickly and it took you a whole thirty five minutes to get here.” She said peering up into his eyes. “I missed you.”

“You’re crazy you know that?” He asked with a slight chuckle leaning back down to kiss her. 

She parted after a minute her hands leaving his neck and almost instantly he felt cold as the warmth had suddenly vanished. He watched her dig through the bag smiling and thanking him when she held up the bag of swedish fish. How could someone possibly do anything but love her?

“I’m tired.” She said glancing at her watch. It was nearly ten thirty. He meant to be home way sooner than this but of course life had other plans. “Go to bed?” He nodded following her into the bedroom where they both quickly got ready for bed. 

He crawled in bed first burying himself under the comforter trying to avoid the cool winter temperatures. Amy’s tried to tell him a hundred times that he should stop sleeping in just a t-shirt and boxers but she doesn't know that he will occasionally still wake up from nightmares drenched in sweat. 

After a moment, Amy came out of the bathroom flickering the light on behind her. He watched her walk over to her side of the bed setting her phone on the charger and checking to make sure her alarm clock was off. She pulled herself under the comforter and scooted closer to him resting her head on his shoulder. Almost instinctively he wrapped his arms around her pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Goodnight.” She whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you more.” he said as she wrapped her arm around his torso. He sighed to himself at finally just being able to hold her and guarantee that she was safe. He wished more than anything that he could've been there to stop Jeff or that he could protect her from all the dangers and sexist pigs of the world. Of course he knew that Amy didn’t need protecting, she was more than capable of handling it herself as she has proven time and time again. That’s what he loves most about her. How ressilance and strong she is. She took an awful situation and turned it around to her advantage. She worked her ass of to prove that she was capable of having this job and not getting promoted solely because her boss wanted to fuck her. 

He smiled to himself rubbing small circles on her back. Her breathing had evened out and he was almost positive that she was asleep. He wished that he was able to get to sleep but his mind just wouldn’t stop replaying that conversation. 

“Ames?” he asks testing to see if she was really asleep. After a moment when she didn’t say anything, he continued talking. “I ran into Jeff Flores today.” He waited a moment and when there were no signs of movement he decided that he was officially in the clear. “You never told me the name of your captain at the 6-4. But Jeff was in walmart, he was a friend of my dad’s actually.”

He stopped for a moment still trying to compose himself. He needed to say this. Even if she didn’t hear it, that conversation was going to bounce around in his head forever until he finally got it out and into the open. “When I told him that I was married to a girl named Amy, he started talking about a girl named Amy at the 6-4 and that’s when I connected the dots.” He voice cracked slightly. Two years and it was like the wound was still fresh to him. Sometimes he wondered if there were days after she transfered that she struggled while he was sitting right across from her and had no idea. He couldn’t dwell on that for too long as it made his heart physically hurt. “He started saying all these awful things that he had thought of you. Things that I won’t even repeat. It was like he thought that I was one of his drinking buds or something.”

“When he found out that I was married to the girl he was talking about he tried to tell me that he was complimenting you. There are a thousand better ways, no scratch that a million, a billion, better ways to compliment you than saying that he was ‘hard all the time’.” Jake said shuttering as he repeated Jeff’s words. “I mean you are the smartest, funniest, dorkiest person I know but all he saw you for was how hot you are. Which you are but that’s beside the point.”

“I wanted to punch him.” Jake continued in a soft whisper. His hands had made their way up to Amy’s hair where he was now slowly carding through it. “I wanted to so badly, but in the back of my mind I knew it was a bad idea. Violence doesn't solve violence. So instead I told him off and walked away. But it was awful Ames and I wanted to cry right there in the card aisle of Walmart and that’s not fair of me to say it’s awful because it was a thousand times worse what he did to you but-”

“Jake.” Amy said her voice cutting through the silence of their room besides his own voice. He immediately tensed not meaning for her to hear any of it. He just wanted to say it and get it out of his system. “It’s okay babe.” She whispered moving over so that her head was rested completely on his chest her hand resting over his heart. “You had the right to be mad, any decent person has the right to be mad.”

“But-”

“No buts.” Amy said. “You did the right thing by not punching him. No matter how tempting it may be. I appreciate you standing up for me. I know that confrontation isn’t your thing.”

“It’s not but there was no way in hell that i was just going to let him talk about you, or any girl, like that. I wanted to clean my ears out after that conversation.”

“Yeah he was a pretty gross guy.” Amy agreed.

“I don’t remember him being that gross when I was a kid.”

“You were a kid.” Amy said. “You just didn’t recognize it.”

“I guess.”

“It’s okay Jake. Really. That was ages ago, I’ve healed.”

“I know.” Jake said not really sure what else to say. He could spiral on and on about how he wished that it didn’t happen to her but of course she would wish the same thing and saying that isn’t going to make it not happen. “I love you so much and it made me sick the way he was talking about you.”

“That’s what makes you a good man.” Amy replied. “You’re a good person Jake. With a good heart. Jeff doesn't have a wife or even a girlfriend, there’s a reason for that. A couple of years back he actually got fired for attempting assault, his world is starting to crash down around him. All of these sexual predator’s world’s are starting to fall apart. Women are starting to fight back. Things are finally starting to look up. It’s going to be okay.”

Jake nodded the back of his throat burning and his eyes starting to become slightly misty. “You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”

“I know.” Amy said. “I am pretty incredible.”

He laughed wrapping his arms around her finally letting the conversation with Jeff go and trying to get a good night’s rest before work in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> load me up with those kudos and comments
> 
> Also let me know if you think this needs an archive warning and I'll be happy to add one


End file.
